The Kansas City Chiefs opened up their 2022 season with a dominant 44-21 victory over the Arizona Cardinals. Despite the blowout victory, it wasn’t a 100% positive day for Kansas City as they saw several players, including some starters, suffer injuries. Patrick Mahomes also injured his non-throwing hand but that clearly did not appear to affect his ability to throw the ball, so I don’t the Chiefs are too concerned.
What were the most notable injuries for the Kansas City Chiefs and who could potentially step up in a short week against the Los Angeles Chargers on Thursday night?
Justin Watson, Wide Receiver
Wide receiver Justin Watson only saw one target on Sunday but was injured on that play. He was carted to the locker room and was later declared out by the Chiefs. Losing Watson won’t make or break the season and likely won’t have a significant effect on the game against the Chargers on Thursday, but there are ramifications to him not being available.
If Watson is unavailable to play against the Chargers, the Chiefs’ depth at wide receiver takes a hit, but I don’t believe that Kansas City will miss him a ton if he cannot go on Thursday. All due to respect to Just Watson but a team losing their WR5 is not a massive game-changer. The Chiefs also still have JuJu Smith-Schuster, Skyy Moore, Mecole Hardman, and Marquez Valdes-Scantling as the primary wide receivers along with Travis Kelce at tight end for Patrick Mahomes.
In terms of replacing Watson, the obvious choice is Daurice Fountain as he was elevated from the practice squad but scratched against the Cardinals. Behind Fountain, the next man up is probably Cornell Powell on the practice squad.